Now available in a DVD/Blu-ray combination box set from FUNimation Entertainment

Princess Jellyfish is a joy to experience. The characters are unique, fun, and full of life. The art is breathtaking. Not to mention, the writing and pacing are superb. There is so much content, beauty, art , and laughter packed into this eleven part series, it satisfies better then some series twice its length.

Princess Jellyfish is the story of Tsukimi Kurashita and her house mates who live in an apartment building in Tokyo called Amamizukan. Tsukimi, an eighteen year old jellyfish lover, is in Tokyo trying to become an illustrator. Her love of jellyfish was inspired by the experiences she had with her late mother as a child. Amamizukan is inhabited by otaku women who collectively shun the fashionable people, cafes, conventional jobs, and boys. All of this comes crashing down on Tsukimi’s head when she meets Kuranosuke Koibuchi. Kuranosuke assists Tsukimi in saving a jellyfish from certain death, and Tsukimi can not believe that a beautiful girl would help someone like her. Tsukimi quickly finds out that Kuranosuke is not exactly the beautiful girl she thought, considering he is a guy. Tsukimi must keep this a secret from her friends while trying to save Amamizukan from the ravages of an urban renewal project. All this time Tsukimi must come to terms with figuring out what it means to be a woman out on her own.

The characters in Princess Jellyfish are wonderful to experience and learn about. Finding out what each resident of Amamizukan is obsessed with is fun on its own. It quickly become obvious that the residents of Amamizukan are not the only ones who are obsessed. Many of the other ‘normal’ characters have their own obsessions but have the guise of living in the real world. Although these characters do not think of themselves in the same light as Tsukimi and her friends, the fact that many of their obsessions are as blatant as the girls of Amamizukan creates an interesting spin on who are really the ‘normal’ ones.

The timing in Princess Jellyfish is great in all it’s different aspects. The jokes and gags are placed perfectly within the dialogue. The story progresses through the episodes in a way that feels natural and logical. It is amazing how much story is told in such few episodes.

FUNimations release of this wonderful series also includes the following special features: commentaries with the English voice actors on episodes one and eleven, “Princess Jellyfish Heroes”, “Go, Sisterhood Explorers!”, “Tsukimi and Jiji’s Jellyfish Tour”, “The Princess Jellyfish Field Guide”, promotional videos, the U.S. trailer, textless songs, and trailers for other FUNimation releases.

Amber is an Early Childhood Education Professional in Chicago . She is also a part of an All Female Anime Circle, Kichi Gi. This circle explores anime, manga, and Japanese culture, while also trying to make an impact within the community. Amber is also a great lover of history and has worked hard over the years to study history and all it has to teach us.